Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a roll-in fat containing a solid component. The roll-in fat of the present invention contains the solid component homogeneously dispersed therein, and is excellent in plasticity and extensibility. Thus it is widely applicable to, for example, various pies, croissants and Danish pastries.
Description of the Prior Art
A conventional method for adding to an oleaginous material such as margarine or shortening a solid material which is not or hardly soluble in oil or water, for example, dairy products such as cheese, gums, fruits, vegetables, seaweeds, fibrous materials, various starches, baking powder, gluten, soybean protein, cereals such as corn, flat plant, sesame, wheat flour or rye, sugars, solid enzymes or nuts such as almond, peanut, cacao or cocoa powder comprises forcing said solid component to disperse in a molten material in the production of said oleaginous material followed by plasticization by cooling. Alternately, the oleaginous material produced in a conventional manner is brought to a semimolten state so as to facilitate the mixing of the same with a solid component and then the solid component is incorporated therein.
For example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 122765/1979 discloses a process for the production of an edible animal or vegetable solid fat containing cheese. This process comprises heating an edible animal or vegetable solid fat such as margarine or butter so as to make it fluid and then adding cheese thereto.
Furthermore, Japanese Patent Publication No. 46291/1983 discloses an edible solid fat which contains starch or .alpha.-starch and has a plasticity. As the Examples show, this product is also produced by melting a fat at 60.degree. C. and then adding starch or .alpha.-starch thereto.
However it is difficult to homogeneously disperse an insoluble or hardly soluble solid component in the molten material for the production of an oleaginous material followed by cooling and plasticization, as conducted in the cases of the above-mentioned patents, since the difference in the specific gravity between the oleaginous material and the solid component would frequently cause the separation of these materials from each other during the production process. For example, a hardly soluble solid component such as cheese would agglomerate together during the dispersion. As a result, it becomes far more nonuniform, which makes it impossible to obtain a roll-in fat containing homogeneously dispersed solid components.
When an oleaginous material is brought to a semimolten state in order to facilitate the subsequent mixing step and then a solid component is added thereto, as proposed by the above-mentioned Japanese Patent Publication No. 46291/1983, it is difficult to control the temperature of said oleaginous material and thus some troubles such as oil-off (namely, the effusion of components in the fat having a low melting point) might be observed. Furthermore, the semimelting is accompanied by some changes in the crystalline structure of the fat and thus the plasticity of the product is damaged, which makes the resulting product considerably unsatisfactory as a roll-in fat containing solid components.